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Glite Dictionary
Tridacna gigas

Tridacna gigas

9.9
A very large sea clam that lives on coral reefs and can weigh up to 500 pounds
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : Tridacna gigas
  • The Tridacna gigas can weigh as much as 500 pounds.

Examples

  • Marine biologists studied the massive Tridacna gigas specimens on the coral reef.

  • The Tridacna gigas can live for more than a hundred years in its natural habitat.

  • Divers were amazed by the colorful mantle of a Tridacna gigas embedded in the coral.

  • Have you ever seen a Tridacna gigas in the wild?

  • Divers were amazed by the colorful mantle of a Tridacna gigas embedded in the coral.

  • Marine biologists studied the massive Tridacna gigas specimens on the coral reef.

  • The Tridacna gigas can live for more than a hundred years in its natural habitat.

Synonyms

giant clam
vsTridacna gigas
  • US
1 5.7

A very large sea clam that lives on coral reefs

is the specific species found in the Indo-Pacific rather than the general tropical type
Tridacna
vsTridacna gigas
  • Specialized
9.9

A very large sea clam that lives on coral reefs in the Indian and Pacific Oceans

is one species within that genus, not the whole group

Surface Forms

Tridacna gigas singular
Tridacna gigas plural

Morphology

Tridacna + gigas

This is a taxonomic binomial (genus + species) where the second element 'gigas' historically means 'giant', so a learner who knows the classical root ('giga-') could infer 'giant Tridacna' (a very large clam). However, scientific names function as proper nouns and many B1 learners will not know the Latin/Greek root or will treat the species epithet as an arbitrary label, making the meaning only partially recoverable without exposure.

Etymology

Tridacna gigas may come from old Greek words: Tridacna was a name for a type of shell and gigas means 'giant'. So the name gives the image of a very large clam on the reef, which fits this species that can weigh hundreds of pounds.